The increasing complications of illegal accounting systems and nominee cases in Thailand has caused the Business Development Department to face a shortage of auditors, which will be an important operating obstacle in the near future.

There are 574 officials in the department. Among these are 50-60 accountants and auditors. They must audit a total of 514,512 registered companies in Thailand (as of August 6).

In addition, senior auditors in the department have gradually resigned for higher-paying

positions in private companies, gaining salaries of up to Bt500,000 per month and better benefits.

A senior official source in the department said only accountancy graduates from one of the Rajabhat schools rather than Chulalongkorn or Thammasat universities apply to the department when it is open for new recruitment.

"This doesn't mean that Rajabhat graduates cannot work well, but we must take longer to train them, in order to ensure that their 'conceptual skills' compare with those who graduated from those other universities," said the source.

The source said officials with "conceptual skills" had their own vision and developed their working ideas to achieve a final outcome instead of waiting for commands from senior officials.

The department also grants scholarships to university students every year, in order to increase the number of its accountants and auditors. However, these graduates often work with the department for a few years and then quit to work in a private company after fulfilling their obligation to work at the ministry for three to five years.

As a result, the department has been unable to develop future junior and senior accountants and auditors.

However, millions of baht have been provided for training, both in country and abroad. The strategy is to foster existing officials' conceptual skills.

The source added that the department needed more experts to ensure correct audits. In particular, the recent illegal-nominee case involving Kularb Kaew is a very complicated one to prove and requires in-depth audits.

The source also pointed out the case related to a politician who had pressured relevant officials and discouraged their daily work routines. In the end, they may end up leaving for the private sector.

"This is the department's spectre. The country is facing more complicated cases of corruption that will damage the Kingdom, so we need experts to probe them," said the source.

Achara Pongvutitham

The Nation